Max Planck Institute for Astronomy - Annual Report 2005

Contents
Preface ....................................................................... 5
I. General .................................................................... 6
I.1 Scientific Goals .................................................... 6
I.2 Observatories – Telescopes – Instruments ........... 9
I.3 National and International Cooperations ............. 15
I.4 Teaching and Public Outreach .............................. 17
II. Highlights ............................................................... 18
II.1 Light Echoes Allow an Insight into the Active
Past of Cassiopeia A .............................................. 18
II.2 AB Doradus C: Young, Low-mass Star is
Twice as Massive as Expected .............................. 21
II.3 The First Heidelberg Extrasolar Planet ............... 24
II.4 Planetesimal Formation by Gravitational
Instability ............................................................... 26
II.5 Dust Tori in Active Galactic Nuclei .................... 31
II.6 Massive Star Clusters in the Centers of Spiral
Galaxies ................................................................. 38
II.7 Observations of Distant Galaxies with Spitzer . 42
II.8 Dynamic, Dust and Young Stars –
Computer Simulations of Merging Galaxies ........ 46
III. Selected Research Areas ..................................... 50
III.1 Star Fomation in the Magellanic Clouds ........... 50
III.2 Radiative Transfer – Link between Simulation
and Observation .................................................... 63
III.3 The Galaxy-Dark Matter Connection ................ 72
III.4 The Interstellar Medium in Nearby Galaxies .... 79
IV. Instrumentation Development ............................... 87
IV.1 Instruments for the James Webb Space
Telescope ............................................................... 87
IV.2 Novel Concepts for Extremely Large
Telescopes ............................................................. 96
IV.3 Darwin .............................................................. 98
IV.4 Progress with Linc-nirvana for the the LBT .. 99
IV.5 Lucifer I/II – Spectrographs for the LBT ....... 101
IV.6 Differential Delay Lines for prima .................. 102
IV.7 Sphere – Search for Exoplanets at the VLT ......103
IV.8 Laiwo – Search for Exoplanets at the
Wise Observatory ................................................. 103
IV.9 pyramir – A New Wavewfront Sensor
for aLfa................................................................. 104
IV.10 Improvement of the Seeing at the
3.5 m Telescope on Calat Alto ............................. 105
IV.11 pacS – Far-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer
for the Herschel Space Telescope ........................ 106
IV.12 pia – A Mainframe Computer for the MPIA .. 107
V. People and Events ................................................. 109
V.1 First Light for the Large Binocular Telescope 109
V.2 Open House at the MPIA ................................... 112
V.3 Further Events and Activities ............................. 114
V.4 International Max Planck Reseach Scool in
Heidelberg ............................................................ 117
V.5 Ringberg Workshop on »Distant Clusters of
Galaxies« .............................................................. 119
V.6 The Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Physics
School on »Extrasolar Planetary Systems« .......... 121
V.7 Two New Junior Research Groups at MPIA ...... 123
V.8 Prizes for Young Scientists ................................. 125
V.9 Girls' Day – Girls Visiting MPIA ....................... 129
V.10 The Project »Science into Schools!«
with our Journal »Sterne und Weltraum« ............ 130
V.11 The Hanno and Ruth Roelin-Prize for
Popular Science Writers ....................................... 131
V.12 Farewell Colloquium in Honor of
Immo Appenzeller ................................................ 133
V.13 Four Decades on the Königstuhl – an
Interview with Christoph Leinert
and Dietrich Lemke .............................................. 134
V.14 Where is the MPIA standing in our
Research Scene? – an Interview with
Hermann-Friedrich Wagner .................................. 140
Staff ..................................................................................... 144
Working Groups ................................................................ 145
Cooperation with Industrial Firms ................................ 147
Teaching Activities ........................................................... 149
Conferences, Scientific and Popular Talks .................. 149
Service in Committees ..................................................... 154
Further Activities .............................................................. 155
Publications ....................................................................... 155